Promoting Climate Change Awareness with High School Students for a Sustainable Community

Abstract

Climate change is the biggest threat facing humanity, and understanding and addressing climate change represent important goals in creating a sustainable community. As several studies have underlined, in order to enhance eco-friendly behaviors, it is pivotal to understand people’s emotional reactions to climate change and develop actions that build a planetary sense of community. In this context, the present pilot study aims to propose a new psychological environmental intervention program seeking to increase students’ awareness of climate change and related emotions and to promote students’ empowerment. It was carried out in Italy, from January to April 2022, involved 25 high school students, and was conducted by environmental scientists and community psychologists who were experts in affective education and empowerment. The program was composed of two different modules: the first module focused on sustainable development and climate change’s effects on the environment and health as well as positive and negative emotions related to climate change; and the second was a participatory laboratory on actions that can be taken to protect the environment. An assessment of the intervention showed its efficacy in terms of the students’ competences as environmental citizens, their comprehension of emotions related to climate change, and the development of climate change projects. Given the small sample size and the pre-experimental nature of our contribution, future studies on a larger scale and with a control group are needed to confirm our preliminary results.